Already the flies were swarming. Four hours on the hot pavement of South Boston had baked the pulverized flesh, releasing the chemical equivalent of a dinner bell, and the air was alive with buzzing flies. Though what remained of the torso was now covered with a sheet, there was still much exposed tissue for scavengers to feast on. Bits of gray matter and other unidentifiable parts were dispersed in a radius of thirty feet along the street. A skull fragment had landed in a second-story flower box, and clumps of tissue adhered to parked cars.

Overview

It’s a boiling summer in Boston. Adding to the city’s woes is a series of shocking crimes that end in abduction and death.

The pattern suggests one man: serial killerWarren Hoyt, recently thrown behind bars. Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires.

At least that’s what detective Jane Rizzoli thinks. Forced again to confront the killer who scarred her – literally and figuratively – she is determined to finally end Hoyt’s awful influence. Rizzoli isn’t counting on becoming a target herself.

Yet once Hoyt is suddenly free, he joins his mysterious blood brother in a vicious vendetta….